We left Oslo Friday evening and had to go to the other ‘Oslo’ airport which is called Rygge instead of the main Oslo aiport since RyanAir only flies from Rygge. Now I call it the other ‘Oslo’ airport because it is nowhere near Oslo. It’s an hour bus ride from Oslo to Rygge. That’s even worse than the trip out to the ‘Edmonton’ airport in Leduc! Either way, we made it to Rygge! This was the first time Karina and I had flown RyanAir and for those who don’t know about it, I’m going to quickly describe why it’s different from normal airlines. RyanAir is basically the cheapest airline in Europe and it stays cheap by flying from smaller airports, allowing no checked bagged (unless you pay 60 euro), advertising like a rabid banshee on steroids (which is A LOT) and offering only direct flights. But Reader, when I say RyanAir is cheap, I mean it. The flight to Ireland, with tax and a random fee for paying with a credit card online, was less than a hundred Canadian dollars. Well worth the ‘hassles’ in my opinion!
We arrived in Dublin and I had my first ever night in a hostel! I feel pretty darn accomplished right about now! It honestly wasn’t that bad! It was like summer camp for adults! But I couldn't care less about the accommodations, we were in freakin’ Ireland! So the next morning, we set out at 7:00am to catch our 8:00am bus tour that would be taking us to Belfast in Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK). I’ll give Karina props; she definitely knows how to read a map. We found the tourist information place and caught our bus and away we went! We were really excited to take a trip up to Northern Ireland since we really knew nothing about it! I was especially confused as to why the Republic of Ireland (southern Ireland) had separated from the UK. I have to say that the best part of that trip was our tour guide Bud. He was too awesome! That being said, every single person I met in Ireland was awesome! They were all SO friendly and so proud to be Irish! I just loved every moment! But I digress… We stopped along the way to Belfast in several little places (pictures on FaceBook as per the usual) and when we got to Belfast we went to a museum which basically explained the history of Ireland and why it got split up. There’s a movie called ‘Michael Collins’ which supposedly is all about Ireland’s troubled times! I’m not going to go into details Reader but it basically had to do with the Catholics and the Protestants not getting along. Belfast was really cool in that it was split up into two halves, the Catholic side and the Protestant side even though they’ve had peace for almost five years. There’s a wall running through the city (Bud called it the Berlin Wall of Ireland) called the Peace Wall. It’s really something to see! The other cool thing about Belfast is that the Titanic was built there!
We got back from the Belfast tour into Dublin at around 7:30pm that night. It was a long day but there was no time for rest! Karina and I had to get up at 5:45am to catch our 6:50am bus to the Cliffs of Moher the next morning! Luckily that bus was leaving from the same place as the bus to Belfast! We got there just in time and slept for the first part of the morning since it was basically just driving. Our guide’s name was Jo and he was pretty awesome as well. He sang us Irish songs along the way. We stopped in a little town called Limerick (yes like the poem) to see King John’s castle (the same king from Robin Hood). It was then basically on to the cliffs. But when we got there it was SO foggy that we couldn’t see anything! I was very upset! The cliffs were the entire point of the tour! But thank goodness, the fog cleared after about half an hour and we got to see the incredible wonders! I can’t describe how amazing they were! Over 700 feet tall at the highest point, the cliffs are definitely one of Ireland’s claims to fame. Again, pictures will be on FaceBook! If you can’t wait, Google Images has some good ones! After the cliffs, we stopped in the small village of Doolin for lunch at a traditional Irish pub. I’ll talk about the food later on! :P We made it back to Dublin at around 7:30pm and again we were exhausted!
Sleeping in til 10:00am has never felt so good! Monday was spent on the ‘Hop On, Hop Off’ tour bus of Dublin. It basically takes you all over Dublin city, giving a live commentary on things to see and do and you can get off at any tourist destination then hop on another bus later! We rode the entire route just to see what there was to do then we got off at our hostel to get ready for Tyler Ward’s concert! The concert started at around 7:00pm and it was just as awesome as I hoped it would be! He’s amazing live and I highly recommend you guys give him a listen! He has a YouTube page with all his songs and covers! The surprising part of the evening was the opening singer, Nick Howard. He’s from England and he’s AMAZING. Seriously Reader, give him a listen. We bought his CD and met him after the show. He was so nice and just happy to be out touring. He’s definitely worth it!
Today was basically the Guinness Storehouse since we didn’t have time to do anything else (our flight was at 5:00pm). We got up, checked out of our hostel, took the bus and made it to the Guinness Storehouse at around noon. Now Reader, I’m not sure if you know or not but I’m not a huge fan of beer. In fact, I generally dislike beer. But I promised my dad that while I was in Ireland, I would drink a pint. Well dad, does half a pint count? Karina and I managed to drink half a pint of Guinness each and I’ll admit, it was actually pretty decent! Guinness, to me, tasted better than any of the beers I’ve tasted! Go Ireland! The factory itself was really cool! It was seven stories high, not to mention the bar at the very top (RATT anyone?) that gave an incredible view of the city. I wish we had had more time there but we had to catch the airport bus shortly after the tour.
I haven’t mentioned any of the food because I wanted to save it for last! If we had been there for a couple more days, I think I would’ve decided to move to Dublin. I literally fell in love with Ireland and the food/atmosphere didn’t hurt. We went to at least four Irish pubs on this trip and each one was better than the last. Not just for the food, but for the experience. Throughout the three days were in Ireland, I had seafood chowder, fish and chips (Karina did too which is a big deal for her since she generally doesn’t like fish), some sand which type thing and traditional Irish stew. That was amazing by the way! I think the thing that got me the most was the attitudes of the Irish people. In popular culture, we see them being nice and charming and drinking, etc. But really, it’s true! They’re so laid back and friendly and they genuinely want everyone to have a good time! Even random people in the street were stopping to say hi!
The last thing I want to mention (I think… There’s so much to say!), is the title of this entry. Not the first part, you guys can Google Translate that badboy. No, I want to talk about ‘that guy’. It’s a thing Karina and I have started saying every time we see a strange looking person or someone doing something annoying/odd/irritating/etc. We say it all the time now! I'll give a quick example. There was a guy at the Tyler Ward concert who kept yelling 'I love you Tyler' over and over again. Karina and I looked at each other and said 'that guy'. Anyways, I’m hoping I’ll be able to explain it better when I Skype with some of you! So that’s my Irish adventure! An all around GREAT time and an all around amazing country! I had such a blast and I was almost sad to leave! Not saying I wasn’t happy to come home to Norge, but it really was a great opportunity to learn about yet another culture! Thanks to Karina who planned the trip, she’s the greatest! And of course, thanks for reading, thinking of me and missing me Reader because you know I’m doing the same thing for you! Hope to hear from you all soon and happy leap year!
No comments:
Post a Comment